


New Beginnings

by lemonmerinque



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: First Meetings, M/M, anyway i will not shut up about these two, i cant wait for them to meet in canon, im pray i manage to post all the planned chapters, senku lowkey bullies tsukasa, socially inept tsukasa, this is my first fic in over 10 years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22699975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemonmerinque/pseuds/lemonmerinque
Summary: It had been a couple of months since he was defrosted, actually no, petrified while frozen and then depetrified? Something along those lines. Sure he had lagged behind for a year or two but the height his sister took over that time was probably the only thing he didn't struggle adjusting to.(fic discontinued! the new developments have destroyed my perception of this ship in the best way possible, so i will likely attempt to write more/recycle what i had planned with canon in mind, thank you for your patience!)
Relationships: Nanami Ryuusui/Shishiou Tsukasa
Comments: 11
Kudos: 43





	New Beginnings

Long story short, there he was laying on a bed half dead, watching the scientist apply the vague medical knowledge he possessed trying to save him, his hands on occasion betraying the nervousness he tried to conceal, until he finally announced the solution he came up with. He never doubted Senku would eventually pull through but between his pain induced delirium, his shame over the way things ended up mixed with the sentient bokchoy's nonsensical ramble about Super Mario and weed mushrooms, Tsukasa simply couldn't help but resign.

  
Mirai was alive after all, she would be more than fine in Senku's care.

  
And then as abruptly as he fell asleep, he woke up again and she was back in his.

  
It had been a couple of months since he was defrosted, actually no, petrified while frozen and then depetrified? Something along those lines. Sure he had lagged behind for a year or two but the height his sister took over that time was probably the only thing he didn't struggle adjusting to.

  
The rest of his new encounters were the ones that seemed to exhaust him, the myriad of new constructions or the gadgets that Senku and the other science-dweeb - who's name he didn't quite recall, Mozilla or something - paraded around, the cement paved roads or the enormous ship that was visible on the distant shore from the hill he used to hike in the mornings. The amount of breakthrough Senku had managed to bring into existence left him in awe but made him dissociate to uncomfortable degree.

People didn't seem to fall behind in this aspect either - there were a lot of faces in the village that he was unfamiliar with, most were friendly and accommodating to him despite everything, some unaware of his history, but at times, other more familiar ones approached him, cautiously or not, either to question if their old leader would fully adhere to the new status quo or to shoo away people who decided to bug him with such issues.

  
Tsukasa tried to pay no mind to them for the time being, he decided he would spend as much time with his sister as possible, they had a lot to catch up to and even Senku somewhat begrudgingly pardoned him of work that didn't involve her (for the time being). But his wishful sentiment soon would die off as normalcy kicked back in their lives and one day Mirai pulled him on the side of the road furiously to give him The Talk. That being; she really loved him a lot but she had her own things to do and she wanted to play with Suika and the other kids and attend Yuzuriha's handcraft and knitting lessons without him looming over her making sure she's okay, or halfheartedly attempting to knit at the lessons so he doesn't stand out. Cause that didn't work, as she claimed, even Gen participated more and half the time he spend there was pestering Yuzuriha to make Senku-chan a shitty sweater in his stead.

Tsukasa reluctantly ended up agreeing, even if he hardly felt the same. He likely spend more time missing her than he'd want to admit, but didn't feel that was worthy of being held as an argument, and so the next day he sought Senku for work, trying to keep himself busy more than anything.

  
\-----

  
Arriving to the observatory he spotted a blond individual he hadn't seen around before, seated on a stool by the ladder, sipping from a bottle on occasion. The wrestler pondered that the man was strangely well dressed by current fashion standards but still somehow looked like a bad cosplayer of some ship captain from a morning cartoon by the old ones.

  
A sharp whistle would escape his lips when the pillar man entered his proximity.

  
"I'll be damned - where did they keep you hidden all this time?"

  
"The freezer."

  
The stranger nearly choked on his drink.

  
"Oh, right! You're Mirai's brother, glad to have you back with the living,” he beamed, extending his arm to greet him.

  
"I'm Nanami Ryusui"

  
His grasp was solid and his hands betrayed a fair level of physical prowess. Tsukasa decided that he'd probably depetrify someone this competent himself and made a mental note to praise Senku's rational decision-making skills. Still he couldn't shake off the feeling that something about the blond man felt familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint what exactly.

  
"Tsukasa Shishio"

  
"So what are you here for?" Ryusui asked, motioning to the observatory behind him.

  
"Work mostly, my sister's at the handicraft classes and I guess I'm not allowed to join anymore." he admitted, looking a little dejected.

  
"Aww, trouble in paradise?"

  
"Something like that."

  
"Well, sadly for you, we'll have to wait a little longer, Senku is doing some wacko experiment up there and we're not allowed to enter till he's done. Gladly for you, I'm also waiting so I'll keep you company!" Tsukasa smiled.

People being nice to him still made little sense to him, but he figured this guy probably had no clue of his history to be this upbeat around him and eager to shake hands.

  
"Hm. What is he up to this time?"

  
"Something about, hydroph...oric acid? I didn't quite catch it"

  
Tsukasa felt his brain sink a little at the statement, he wasn't certain what that chemical was but it sure was a chemical and that was outlandish by itself.

  
"Oh, tell you what, how much is Senku paying you to work"

  
"...he's not paying me?"

  
"Ah, as usual. I have work available too if you want, I'm here to snatch a couple of muscle boys anyway, I'll pay you well!"

"I'll have to decline. I'm simply repaying my debt to him"

  
"How much would that be?"

  
"It's not a tangible debt, uh... It's complicated."

  
"Suit yourself, but I'm sure I'll find you something if you change your mind so don't hesitate to ask! Money might not be a necessity anymore but it's still handy to have"

Tsukasa might have tried to suppress the dread about a form of currency existing before, put serious effort not to think of it much when his little sister cheerfully handed him a few notes as pocket change, in case he wanted to use them, but as the blond man kept talking, unloading what seemed to be his life story post petrification; his uphill struggle to reinstate an economy to the hapless population of the stone world, his despair over the economic crash of 5740, the travel overseas and his adventure that involved hitting harem bastards with cars and using a drone to kidnap some poor woman out of Greek mythology, the dread resurfaced stronger than ever.

  
Half absorbing Ryusui's ramble and half spacing out, Tarzan reached for the small pocket under his belt, unfolded the notes and examined the writings and drawings on the paper.

  
He was right to think he'd seen this bastard somewhere before.

  
\----

  
The door to the observatory opened and Gen exited wearing what seemed to be a gas mask, only pulling it back when he felt safe from the fumes permeating the enclosure. He cursed while examining his left sleeve and the new couple of acid burn holes that decorated it, but as soon as he confirmed his arm was not actually in any danger of getting burned as well, his attention turned to the beaming voice that undoubtedly belonged to Ryusui below.

  
His mouth gaped opened and never realized his initial intent to greet his friend, freezing at the sight of his unexpected companion. He pushed the mask over his face and ran back in the lab, dragging a protesting and likewise geared scientist outside.

  
Ryusui, too busy eating at Tsukasa's ear with questions over the hardness of his biceps and how much he could lift, refused to acknowledge the commotion above but the auburn haired man watched with a slight sense of horror as Senku lifted his mask and his annoyance at Gen's antics dissolved into sadistic glee when their eyes met.

  
Jesus's pained gaze turned to seek answers from the ground between his feet, his idea of a selfless, warm and almost saintly Judas collapsing like a jenga tower that was already struggling to stand tall on poor supports.

  
The feeling of exhaustion that was stuck on the back of his neck since morning erupted into full designation, but at the same time a strange sense of relief surfaced.

  
If this was karmic retribution, it was far gentler than whatever he had in mind.

  
And forgiving this at least would significantly chip away at his dept to the scientist.

  
The mentalist didn't seem to be in agreement with this twist however, his plans to ease Tsukasa's mental state a little before throwing him in the dragon's jaw all poofing before he had a say to help the situation.

  
"You said Ryusui wasn't going to be back until a week from now -- Owh! Don't pinch me -- This isn't funny, they weren't supposed to meet yet" was the most Tsukasa could make out from his position, but it only intensified his belief that this heinous act was in fact premeditated.

  
Gen continued to whisper and tug on Senku's sleeve angrily, but the other shrugged him off, content that he was spared the trouble of having to let the cat out of the bag later. Sure he looked a little forward to doing so himself, but this turn didn't particularly bother him as it did not deny him access to the sweet sweet ambrosia that would be Tsukasa's eventual tears.

  
Scientist and Scientist's Tail slided down the ladder and Ryusui finally decided to take notice of their presence and excitedly question if they were in fact aware that Tsukasa was alive and over 6'5?

  
Senku chuckled affirmatively.

  
"I was planning to let him spend time with Mirai before slaving him off with the rest, it would be cruel not to after everything they went through"

  
Tsukasa looked up at the scientist again, not quite convinced of his intentions anymore, but the purpose of his visit resurfaced now and he intended to fulfill it.

  
"There's no need for that anymore, do you have work for me?"

  
Senku put on his biggest thinker look, while Gen awwwed understanding and peppered the downtrodden man with his sympathies.

  
"Hm, let's see... there's nothing at the moment but there's the construction of the new bridge over the river that will start tomorrow morning and it requires some heavy lifting... There's also the new boilers in a week from now but-- Right, I could use you in the mines actually"

  
He continued mumbling potential positions he could dispatch Tsukasa to, mostly debating with himself, until Ryusui interrupted him.

  
"Hey, how about I hire Tsukasa and pay you both, like with the usual contracts?"

  
The two accomplices turned to eye the man in question, who forced the friendliest smile he could pull off masking how much he wished he could vanish into thin air on the spot. Ryusui then turned to Senku, blinking his eyes playfully.

  
Senku sighed.

  
He wasn't planning to step down from his rightful postmortem right to bully Tsukasa for free.

  
"Another time maybe"

  
The decision inspired a sense of relief in Tsukasa, perhaps Senku didn't really have bad intent and he was just being paranoid and the rich asshole, well aside from being rich and mildly annoying, didn't seem like that much of an asshole? He was even completely unfazed by the rejection of his request and had already moved on with pestering Senku on different issues.

  
Tsukasa hummed, half defeated and half content.

  
"Seems like things have changed a lot"

  
He nearly instantly regret wording that thought as the glee in Senku's eyes returned and was casted on his direction again. The scientist began bragging about how things got SO much easier because of RYUSUI, and how RYUSUI, bless his soul, was one of the most useful and agreeable people he depetrified so far and a hell of a good captain! Dammit, RYUSUI's skills were even crucial in retrieving the petrification device they needed to revive Tsukasa and holy shit, he even willingly turned into a statue and broke to pieces for the sake of their mission! What a bro! Tsukasa owed his life to him as well.

  
Ryusui cackled at the verbal torrent and shook his head in disbelief "Unusual of you to bootlick this hard, but since it's all true I'll let it slide" and with new found initiative winked at the wrestler, "You're welcome by the way!"

  
Tsukasa too numb from the barrage to spare him attention, focused on the mean gremlin instead.

  
"You depetrified him yourself?"

  
Gen, having lost all will to intervene, merely touched the tips of his fingers on his cheek in response to the question, all fingers extended but his thumb and eyed Tsukasa meaningfully.

  
Tsukasa didn't catch whatever he was trying to signal and at this point refused to try.

  
Senku chuckleded and placed his hands on Ryusui's welcoming shoulders, massaging them softly before twisting the knife further.

  
"Yes, and he didn't try to spear anyone down yet, I'd say he's pretty great"

  
Ouch.

  
"That's nice... I'll help out with the bridge I guess."

  
"We start tomorrow around 9, meet up is outside my lab"

  
Tsukasa nodded and turned to leave finally, no longer baring to be in the presence of Senku and sparing one last passing glance to Ryusui who seemed quite confused by the exchange but his perpetually amused expression remained unchanged.

  
Ryusui observed him as he walked away and huffed a little displeased. He only snapped back to the present when Scienku and Gene turned to climb up the ladder aiming to barricade themselves again.

  
"Hey, can I borrow Magma or Nikki at least?"

  
\----

  
From before Mirai was depetrified, Tsukasa knew it wouldn't be easy to adapt to a new life, especially surrounded with people he wasn't in the best terms with before, but he easily swallowed Senku's little passive aggressive outburst, hoping there wouldn't be more in the future but fearing deep down such possibility was high. He wasn't particularly upset about it, the act mostly meant the green haired man was about as susceptible to his emotions as anyone else.

  
Any resentment from his behalf simply made sense to Tsukasa.

  
Ryusui however was a whole other deal.

  
Tsukasa had planned to avoid him, half because of their clashing views and half fearing that Ryusui would learn about his past and seek to antagonize him as well. He wanted to avoid a bad confrontation above all else but to his dismay... or surprise rather, Ryusui's attention entirely orbited him now and it wasn't negative. At first he tried to offer him work a couple more times before realizing the effort was pointless and resorted to injecting himself in most activities Tsukasa was involved with instead.

  
If Tsukasa didn't know any better, he'd swear the other wanted to be friends. But Tsukasa, age 20, sadly had a whole total of (kinda-sorta) three friends and very little confidence in his experience with them.

  
Along with the occasional work Senku gave him, he continued trekking in the woods almost daily, finding habits of the past comfortable now that his life lacked negative stressors. It didn't take long for Ryusui to approach him and question him on his glorious past status as a wrestler that he recently got whiff of, musing his own then fitness coach and requesting to mayyyybe join in the morning trekking too..? haha just kidding... unless??

  
Tsukasa decided to go along just this once, no better time than now to train his own rusty social skills.


End file.
